We revisit the golfer's curse, which is the possibility that a golf ball can emerge from the cylindrical hole into which it has entered. Our analysis focuses on three constants of the motion. One of these is the energy, because we assume that the ball rolls without slipping on the inner wall of the hole, losing only a small amount of energy to rolling resistance; the other two are related to the angular momentum about the contact point of the ball with the inner wall of the hole. We develop an analysis of the motion of the ball and report measurements of the moment of inertia of a real golf ball. Solving the equation of motion along the vertical direction, we address the question of whether or not the ball could complete a vertical oscillation without reaching the bottom of the hole. We also present measurements of the dynamical friction for a golf ball and discuss dissipation in slip conditions. We conclude by proposing a challenge to golf players: to find a way to send a ball into a hole in order to make it emerge.
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September 2022
PAPERS|
September 01 2022
The golfer's curse revisited with motion constants
Olivier Pujol
;
Olivier Pujol
a)
Université de Lille, Département de physique, Bât. P5
, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
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José-Philippe Pérez
José-Philippe Pérez
b)
Université Toulouse 3, IRAP-CNRS
, 14 Avenue Édouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
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a)
Electronic mail: olivier.pujol@univ-lille1.fr, ORCID: 0000-0002-1007-2361.
b)
Electronic mail: jose-philippe.perez@irap.omp.eu
Am. J. Phys. 90, 657–665 (2022)
Article history
Received:
June 22 2021
Accepted:
May 12 2022
Citation
Olivier Pujol, José-Philippe Pérez; The golfer's curse revisited with motion constants. Am. J. Phys. 1 September 2022; 90 (9): 657–665. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0060788
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